Daily News

France — Unemployment rises again but so does temporary employment

31 May 2010

The latest data published by the official government job centres (Pole Emploi) reveals that after the promising fall of -0.2% in March 2010, the number of category A unemployed job seekers registered with job centres in April 2010 was up again by +0.6% or +15,700 individuals to 2,677,000 compared to the previous month. Compared to April 2009, it was up by +7.8%.

Registered job seekers in categories B (work for up to 78 hours per month) and C (work for more than 78 hours per month) amounted to 1,249,200 in April 2010.

Category B fell by -0.7% compared to the previous month. Category B unemployment was up by +4.1% compared to the same month last year.

Category C unemployment was up by +3.2% compared to the previous month and up by +27.6% compared to the same month last year.

Job seekers in categories A, B and C in total amounted to 3,926,200 in France only and to 4,165,300 in France plus the overseas dominions.

Registered job seekers in categories D (unemployed but not looking for a job) and E (unemployed with a job offer), in France only, amounted to 586,500 in April 2010. The number of category D job seekers rose by +2.0% month-on-month. The number of category E job seekers rose by +3.7% month-on-month.

At the same time, temporary employment rose by +18% month-on-month in both April and May 2010 to 430,000 temporary employees. Francois Roux, President of the Association for Temporary Employers (PRISME), told French daily France Soir "when we first noted the considerable growth rate we were aware that they referred to the month of April 2009 where temporary employment had fallen by -36%. Now we have proof that the positive trend is consolidated, especially because May marks the fourth consecutive month of growth [in temporary employment]."

The full unemployment classification by category is as follows:
A: Unemployed
B: Work for up to 78 hours per month
C: Work for more than 78 hours per month
D: Unemployed but not looking for a job
E: Unemployed with a job offer

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